text: Bumblebees (Bombus spp.), like the honeybee (Apis spp.) collect nectar and pollen from flowers and store them for food. Many individuals must be recruited to forage for food to provide for the hive. Some bee species have highly developed ways of communicating with each other about the location and quality of food resources ranging from physical to chemical displays.
  While honey bees are known for their specialized dances, such as the waggle dance which recruit other bees to the precise location of the food source, bumblebees are not capable of transmitting this type of detailed information. Instead, the nest serves as a hub where bees receive information about the foraging bouts of her conspecifics. Differences between the communication methods of honeybees and bumblebees are mainly due to differences in colony size and nest structure.  Bumblebees are distinct from honeybees because they lack receiver bees (bees in the nest which receive pollen and nectar from incoming foragers during unloading) and are not capable of trophallaxis (the transfer of nectar from one bee to another). They deposit collected nectar directly into the honey pots and don't share information of the quality of the resource with other bees through nectar transfer. Another bee may sample the nectar brought into the nest, and if the colony is in need of food or the nectar is high quality she will likely go out foraging herself. Other means of alerting passive bees to a potentially rewarding resource include releasing pheromone signals and increasing physical activity.
  For information on communication methods in honey bees, see bee learning and communication.